Anyone who has gone to the movies, read a mystery or otherwise taken a breath in Western Culture knows the term,” inside job.” For those who have been living in another dimension for the past century or so, an inside job quite simply means that either employees or someone on the inside of your business was responsible or assisted in some kind of theft.
Sometimes this is the theft of inventory. Other times it relates to the stealing or sensitive databases and proprietary information. Employee theft as it is also known occurs with alarming frequency. Given the economic downturn there is a marked increase in the rate of employee theft. People need money and are willing to commit desperate acts to line their pockets. I don’t know how many times we have had clients tell us that one of its employees got a little funky with their corporate credit card and went on a regrettable but expensive spending spree. This results in having to let the employee go, or even press charges. The old credit cards have to be retired and no ones have to be issues. It’s a pain.
Often employee theft is neither cheap nor petty. We all know what are databases are worth. There is access to credit information and our competitors would love to know the ins and outs of our accounts. A wily but unsavory employee could choose to put it on the market. Not all that long ago former Coca Cola employees tried to sell Pepsico Coke’s secret formula. The Pepsi people turned them in. Other companies may not be as ethical.
According to the New York Times, a Saks employee ran up $130,000 in false returns and siphoned it of for himself with gift cards. Overall retail theft is $36 Billion, annually. Employees are accountable for a portion of that, increasing in 2008 to more than $15 Billion. Pretty alarming.
Some employees will find themselves in desperate straits and will still to make up for extravagances and the vices that brought them to the abyss. While there really no guarantees, running background checks on your employment candidates is a wise idea. It is also prudent to conduct recurring screening as part of your over all employment program. At least run the criminal records search and possibly the MVR Motor Vehicle Driving Report, as this will tell you much about substance issues and desultory behavior. Credit Reports are an important component of the background checking program. Credit reports will indicate whether an employee or employment candidate is in a bad way, economically speaking, and prone to steal from your company.
Employee theft is a growing concern. With the economy the way it is, we don’t see it subsiding anytime soon.
Check them out before you hire.
